Mayor & Commission Meetings

A C Meeting Minutes Ad Hoc Committee: Public Right of Way November 17, 2025, 2:00 – 3:30 pm City Hall 301B Members in Attendance: Commissioner Patrick Davenport, Commissioner Carol Myers, Commissioner Dexter Fisher Staff: Ilka McConnell, Chinesia Thompson, Alex Bond, James Alexander, Keith Kelly, Courtney Davis, Will Fleenor, Suki Janssen, Vic Pope, Jack Reddick Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 2:07 pm. Approval of Agenda: Commissioner Carol Myers made a motion to approve the agenda. Commissioner Dexter Fisher seconded the motion. All 3 Committee members unanimously approved the agenda. Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Patrick Davenport made a motion to approve the October 28, 2025 meeting minutes. Commissioner Carol Myers seconded that motion. The motion carried. Attorney Courtney Davis from the County Attorney’s Office reviewed updated ordinance language for sections 3-5-23 and 5-2-20. She explained that section 3-5-23 had been fully reorganized and rewritten to incorporate the committee’s requested changes, including updated definitions, removal of arrest language, and clarified terms such as hindering versus obstructing passage. The committee discussed the legal meanings of these terms and how they apply in practical enforcement situations, especially regarding sidewalks, public areas, and prowling. They also explored how state law differs from local ordinances and clarified when officers can issue citations versus make arrests. Courtney also reviewed updates to section 5-2-20, which now reduces the timeline for considering property "abandoned" from 96 hours to 24 hours. She added qualifying language explaining that this timeline does not override other ordinances requiring immediate action, such as those involving parks or safety concerns. The committee discussed how to handle potentially hazardous items left in public spaces, agreeing that dangerous or suspicious items can and should be removed immediately for public safety, even though they are not considered officially abandoned until 24 hours have passed. They also agreed that adding the same definition of "public areas" used in 3-5-23 would help create consistency. Additional questions were raised about items left at bus stops and how these ordinances interact with transit policies. Representatives from the Athens Homeless Coalition, Sally Shepard and Michael Moss, presented early findings on potential solutions for personal property storage for individuals experiencing homelessness. They shared that community members expressed a desire for secure storage options such as lockers. The Coalition is exploring models used in other cities and is meeting with a representative from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to gather best practices, costs, lessons learned, and operational considerations. They emphasized that secure storage OFFICE OF THE MANAGER THE UNIFIED GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS-CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA P. O. Box 1868 · Athens, Georgia 30603 (706) 613-3020 · Fax (706) 613-3029 www.accgov.com could reduce clutter in public spaces while helping unhoused individuals access services, jobs, and transportation more easily. The committee then discussed next steps. While the mayor’s charge focuses primarily on ordinance revisions, committee members expressed a desire to continue working on possible solutions in parallel. They agreed to move the updated ordinance language forward for inclusion in the December agenda-setting meeting, with a possible vote in January. A motion was made by Commissioner Fisher to take this step. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Davenport and passed unanimously. The committee also agreed to reconvene to hear additional findings from the Homeless Coalition before the winter holiday break. The next meeting was scheduled for December 15 at 2:00 p.m., with the primary focus on reviewing the storage solution proposal. Commissioner Davenport made the motion to adjourn. Commissioner Fisher seconded the motion. The Committee voted unanimously to adjourn. Meeting was adjourned at 2:47pm.